Philippians: Part 6 - Our righteousness only comes through Jesus
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas. I know that today can be difficult for some people for a variety of reasons, but I do want to make sure that we celebrate the moms and the grandmas and those that have children in their care. You all are amazing. And to those of the moms that aren't here, maybe you're streaming with us this morning, welcome, happy Mother's Day, or you're catching up later. We're just so glad you're here, and we hope you feel loved and honored and celebrated today. I got chosen to preach on Mother's Day as the resident mom here, I guess. I'm just kidding. It was, I volunteered. But I'm excited to be with us, be with you all today. It's not gonna be a traditional Mother's Day sermon. We are back in our Philippians series. So that is gonna be our focus, but I'll try to wrap in some mom stuff for us today.
So, Philippians, our series, The Joy That Endures. we're talking about, through this whole book, about how we can have joy in Christ and what that looks like. What does that look like for our everyday lives? The book, or Paul specifically, talks a lot about this throughout, how we can live this out, how we can find joy in Jesus, regardless of our circumstances. So we've covered chapters one and two. We're gonna be in chapter three today. So if you wanna get ahead and pull that up on your phones or your Bibles, There's Bibles underneath your seats. We'll also have it on this screen. And you can go to Philippians 3. But our buddy Paul here, the early church leader who wrote Philippians and much of the New Testament, packs a punch in this book. All right, we have only covered two chapters in the five weeks that we have been in this series. And we have already gone over partnering with God to spread the gospel, choosing joy and positive attitudes despite difficult circumstances, falling after Jesus, becoming more like him, pointing other people to Jesus, being an influence to those in our lives, and more that I'm sure that I miss. And that's just the first two chapters, all right? There's only four chapters in this book, but it is a lot.
Paul has a way of doing that. He just kinda just packs it in, has a lot of run-on sentences, if you've ever noticed, lots of therefores. He wants to get his point across. In chapter three, we're gonna cover the whole chapter today. We won't read it all, but we will cover it. And so just a little synopsis of the beginning verses. He is calling out legalism in this early church. Now, I'm a rule follower by nature. I don't know if it's just personality or being a firstborn or maybe a combination, but I am a rule follower. I like to police people. I like to know what is what, where I'm supposed to be. I want to do it the best. I want to be the best at it. And usually that requires following the rules. But I will say there is one particular area where I do not follow the rules. And that is my driving. I get it from my father. Completely honestly. But I like driving in the left lane. And if you are not going at least five over, please get out of the left lane. Can I get an amen? Okay, all right. Now here's the thing. The people in the left lane, we got places to go, right? I'm usually late, all right? So that's probably why I'm driving in the left lane. And I'm still a people pleaser, so I don't wanna be that late. So I'm trying to get there as least late as possible. Okay, so that's why I'm in the left lane. I'm just trying to get there quickly. People in the far right lane, I think you're holier than the rest of us, because you're following the rules, you're practicing road safety, we love you, we need you, do you? The people in the Middle East, I'm not sure what you're doing. I don't know. That's fine. I just don't understand it. But I just struggle to follow the rules. I haven't got a speeding ticket, though, so praise Jesus for that. (Laughter) Maybe I need one to learn my lesson. I don't know. The problem is not following rules. That's not a problem. That can actually be really beneficial when it comes to learning how to live rightly. There is a right and wrong way to live in a lot of issues that we see in the Bible. And so being a rule follower can be really helpful with that. The problem comes when we fall into legalism. Legalism is essentially where we are trying We need to follow the rules so closely that we lose sight of the end goal. It's to the detriment of the end goal. And the end goal as believers is to have a relationship with Jesus. And so if we are so caught up in legalism and following the rules that it is at the expense of our relationship with Jesus, we're missing the point. Paul here is addressing an issue where Jews at the time, Christian Jews, were telling Gentiles, these new Christian believers, that they had to become circumcised in order to be a Christ follower. They weren't truly a Christian if they weren't circumcised. And essentially they were saying, "You have to become a Jew before you can become a Christian."
They were adding to scripture, if you will. Now here's the thing, God used, in the Old Testament, when he was developing this nation of Israel, he chose circumcision as a way, as a sign, that the people would be set apart. Why he chose this particular sign, I am not really sure, but this was the sign, that they were a set apart people. They were different than the nations around them. So there was nothing wrong with the Jews choosing to follow that and be circumcised. The problem came when they were saying that it was required to be a Christ follower. were falling into this legalism. And Paul is flipping the script here and saying that those who follow Jesus who are Christians are the circumcision. They don't have to be circumcised, they are the circumcision. They are the ones set apart. They are set apart to God, Jew or Gentile. If they are a professing follower of Jesus, they are the circumcision. They are the set apart ones. See, what Paul knew is that if anyone could claim that following the rules would save you, it was him. He was like the best Jew. He grew up this good Jewish boy. He was a Pharisee, which was like the cream of the crop of the Jews, and they knew scripture inside and out. They followed all of the rules. They told everyone else how to follow all the rules. He was so passionate about following the law that he persecuted Christians in the early church because he believed they were going against the law. went to their homes and pulled them out to the street to be stoned, persecuted them. That's how passionate he was. That's how in line with the law he was. So he's saying, "If that doesn't earn me my salvation, if that doesn't earn me my righteousness, you have to understand that that's not it. No amount of legalism or keeping the law will justify us. We're not made right with God by anything we do, but only by the blood of Jesus. And that's just the first six verses of this chapter. Okay, three to jump into verse seven.
All right, so follow along with me. We'll have it on the screen. Verse seven of chapter three. "But whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith." Our righteousness, our right standing with God comes from God by Jesus, by the sacrifice of Jesus. Paul knows that everything else, compared to being in Christ, everything else is trash. And that's the kind word, the kind version of that word. He uses a much stronger word in the Greek, but it's garbage. It means nothing compared to being in Christ. He's not trying to make rule followers out to be the bad guy, 'cause that's not the issue. The issue is not following the rules, it's when it's the only thing that's important. That's when it becomes a problem. We miss the mark when we are so focused on following the rules that we miss the relationship with Jesus. Romans 5:9 says, "Since we have now been justified by His blood, "how much more shall we be saved "from God's wrath through Him?" It doesn't say been justified by our works, been justified by circumcision, been justified by how good we follow the law, by how closely we follow all the rules, by how good of a Christian we look like, it says, "By his blood." Friends, that is good news, 'cause it's not on us. The thing is, if we believe that we can save ourselves, if we believe that legalism and following the rules to a T can save ourselves, we're gonna be in a world of hurt, 'cause one, we're gonna fail miserably and still not be reconciled to God. And two, we are in effect denying the sacrificial work of the cross of Christ. If we, we may not say we believe that, we may not actually even think we believe that, but our actions speak loud. And if we are living in such a way that we are saying that we believe that we can earn our justification, we can earn our salvation, we're saying that what Christ did on the cross isn't enough. I don't think we want either of those options in the Christian life. That's not what we're looking for. So how do we do this? How do we move away from legalism into the freedom that is found in Christ?
Well, Paul goes into this in verse 10. I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His and suffering, becoming like him in his death. And so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead, not that I have already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Paul's whole goal was to know and love Jesus, full stop. Nothing else mattered, nothing else compared to knowing Jesus. As Christians, we can be a Christian, we can say we follow Jesus and say we can know a lot about him without knowing him. We can look like a good Christian. We can go through the motions and follow all the rules and do all the right things and still not have a relationship with Jesus. Paul had his priorities straight. He knew that becoming more like Jesus was more important than just checking a box and following the rules. He knew his calling. He knew where he was going, and he understood the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here's the thing about this power. This resurrection power is what justifies us. The debt has been paid. The sentence that we are supposed to, that is put on us for our sins has been served. It's done. Can I get an amen? That is some good news, people. Thank you. Okay, we're awake. The sentence has been served. We are justified by His blood. That resurrection power has been given to us. The same power that rose Jesus from the dead is in us because if we profess Jesus as Lord and Savior, we have Holy Spirit in us. And so no amount of legalism, no amount of doing what we think is right will justify us because the work's already finished, friends.
Have you ever tried to give directions to someone who just took things a little too literally, maybe didn't quite understand, maybe it was a child, maybe it was a coworker, maybe it was your spouse, no judgment, I don't know. I think of my kids sometimes, I try to give directions, and it just doesn't quite go the way I hoped. Imagine you're giving directions on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. To someone who's never made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before. So you say, "Okay, put the peanut butter on the bread." So they put the peanut butter on the bread. And then you realize, okay, you're gonna need to back up a little bit. So then you say, "Okay, no, take the bread out of the bag." So they take the bread out of the bag. Didn't actually tell them how to open it. Well, so next time maybe give the instruction to open at the seal, but it's fine. They follow the rule, right? So then you say, "Okay, put the knife in the peanut butter." Doesn't work so well this way. So you gotta tell them to take the lid off, and then they can put the knife in the peanut butter. And then you tell them to spread the peanut butter on the bread. And then you say, "Okay, now it's time for the jelly. "Put the jelly on the bread." So they do the same thing, 'cause you didn't give the explicit directions to take the lid off the jelly. "Yeah, will they make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? "Maybe eventually, but it's gonna be messy. "It's gonna be harder than it probably should be." But here's the thing, they followed all the directions. You said, "Put the peanut butter on the bread." They put the peanut butter on the bread. Now, okay, every analogy falls apart at some point. So, you know, God is much better at giving us directions than we are. But the point is that if we are following the directions to a T, but losing the forest for the trees, it doesn't do us any good. It's gonna be messy, it's not gonna be perfect, and there's no freedom, and the end result isn't what we thought it would be. 'Cause when we follow the rules, we live a good life. We live a right life. But at what cost? Are we getting the end result that we hoped we would? Might look a little messier than we thought.
The reality is that we are sinners and that sin separates us from God. God is holy. He is perfect. And so in order to be in relationship with him, we must also be made righteous. And we can't do that on our own. but thankfully we serve a God who loves us enough to send that sacrifice for us. And he sent Jesus to be that sacrifice. He was sinless, so he could pay the price. He served our sentence. The sacrifice has been made so that we could be reconciled back to God. Legalism can actually, contrary to what we may think, Legalism can actually keep us in bondage. But Jesus offers us freedom. Legalism is not freedom. Legalism is an obligation. It puts the work of salvation on us, which is a heavy load to bear. We can't handle it. We may think we can. We may try sometimes, but we cannot handle it. In fact, legalism can create so much bondage because it leads to other sins. It can lead to pride, thinking that we got this, we can handle it. It can lead to idolatry, that we are putting the rules up on this pedestal, or we are putting ourselves, we're making ourselves these little gods, if you will, that we are the one doing the work. Now, this doesn't mean we do whatever we want. This doesn't mean we just have free reign, forget the rules, throw them out the window. That's not what I'm trying to say here. And that's not what Paul's saying. But it means that our relationship with Jesus, out of that love for Him, we naturally start following the rules, because we want to, because we love Him so much that we want to live the way He tells us. We want to live the way that He commands us to. It's not out of obligation, but out of love and out of freedom. The joy, our joy is not found in following the rules or being the best Christian. There's no award for best Christian. Sorry. But our joy is in our relationship with Jesus. That's where we find our joy. And let's be clear, we get to live abundantly.
We get to live in freedom and abundance within the boundaries that we have been given. There's so much freedom there. God gives us a lot of free reign. And it's wonderful, we are promised an abundant life, not an easy life, not a carefree life, not one without hardship, but abundant, full, full of joy, full of peace, full of Him and His presence within those boundaries that He has given us. And when we walk in freedom, when we are walking in this abundant life within those boundaries, we look different naturally. We naturally look different and we point people to Jesus. Paul talks about this. So let's go on to verse 15. He says, "All of us then who are mature "should take such a view of things, "and if on some point you think differently, "that too God will make clear to you. "Only let us live up to what we have already attained. "Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, "and just as you have us as a model, "keep your eyes on those who live as we do. "For as I have often told you before, "and now tell you again, even with tears, "many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their God is in their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. And then he ends with chapter four, verse one, saying, "Therefore, my brothers and sisters, "You whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, "stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends." We get to be examples of Jesus to the world. And that may seem a little scary sometimes. I say we get to, some of you are like, "Do I have to? "Is that a requirement?" Yes, it is. We are all called to be ministers of the gospel. We are all called to be examples of Jesus to others. And Paul is saying here, I'm following Jesus and I've had some experience, I've had some real encounters with Him, so follow me as I follow Jesus. Let's figure this out together. Naturally with today, I think of mothers. Mothers are a great example of this. Christian moms disciple their children, they raise them up to follow Jesus. Their children model after them, for good or for bad. Sometimes it doesn't always work out the way we hoped, but we are modeling Jesus to our kids. I'm very blessed to have a mom that loved Jesus and taught us to love Jesus. I learned what it looked like to walk with Jesus from my parents. I was homeschooled, so I was with my mom more, but with both of them, Both of them love Jesus and modeled that for me. But whether you're a mom or not, whether you have biological children or not, you can still model that for others too.
Author and speaker Lisa Bevere calls these people godmothers or godfathers, these spiritual parents. Now, the idea of godparents is not unusual in our culture. many through the Catholic faith tradition or even just in close relationship with people, choose godparents for their kids. They identify them as someone that they want to pour into their children's lives or be there if something happens. But we can be spiritual godmothers and godfathers. We can model our faith to those who are maybe not as far along in their faith. Maybe they're not actually younger than us, but maybe they just are newer to their faith. And if you are newer to your faith journey, may I encourage you to find a godmother or a godfather. Ask them to lunch, buy them a coffee, spend some time with them, ask them questions. Watch them live their life. Watch them parent, watch them interact with their spouse. Watch how they talk to people, do life with them, and model after them. You're not worshiping them, you're not idolizing them, you're not putting them up on a pedestal because you and I both know they're not perfect and they know they're not perfect. But they've had some more life experiences, they've had some more encounters with Jesus. And sometimes as we're navigating life and learning to walk in faith the way Jesus did, it's helpful to have someone who's practically living that out, so we can learn how to do that ourselves. Paul wraps up this section of Philippians by acknowledging that there are enemies of Jesus. We know this. There are enemies of God. Take five minutes on social media and you will see it too. There are those that want to lead Christians astray or push their agenda. There are evildoers, as Paul called them earlier on in the chapter. They're ones that, maybe it's as simple as encouraging legalism, like the Jews were around circumcision, or maybe it's something more extreme, like things we're seeing in the Middle East. but there are enemies of Jesus. So he tells his people to stand firm. Stand firm.
Going back to the very end, chapter four, verse one. "Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, In what way? In the way He just laid out for them in the whole chapter. Choose freedom over legalism. Walk in the power of the resurrection and model a biblical and faith-filled lifestyle. That's how we stand firm. It doesn't have to be complicated. It's not always easy, but it doesn't have to be complicated. We have been given the word of God. We have been given a fellowship of other believers. We have been given everything we need for a godly life. And we just have to choose to stand firm in that. So this is how we stand firm. We won't do it perfectly, but we will do it out of freedom. Amen? Amen.
Pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for the way you have given us everything we need for life and godliness, your word, your people, your spirit. God, we are so grateful for the sacrificial blood of Jesus that has justified us, that has saved us, that has taken the burden off of us so that we can be reconciled to you, not out of anything we do, not of our own strengths, not of our own efforts to earn, but simply by accepting your gift. God help us to walk in that freedom, help us to live in this abundant life that you have given us, and help us to model that for others. Lord, we thank you for moms. We thank you for those who have gone before us and who love us so deeply. May they be honored today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.